White House takes on college sex assaults

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The White House is taking action against college sexual assaults. New numbers show it’s still a problem.

The Obama Administration is responding, according to its Office of the Press, to a series of highly publicized campus rapes.

White House guidelines are suggested, but 2 NEWS found that local universities already have plans in place.

Sexual assaults on college campuses have apparently risen to a level of concern to attract such attention.

“We want to focus on prevention so we don’t have to deal with the aftermath,” said Dr. Gary Dickstein, Wright State University.

Included in the White House recommendations are anonymous surveys about sexual assault cases and the adoption of anti assault policies.

Colleges that responded to our questions all have programs that have been developed, even offering help to the alleged perpetrator as well.

Here’s how some of the numbers of sexual assaults were broken down in 2012 from the schools that responded.
12 cases for Wright State

Seven cases at The University of Dayton

One case at Central State University in the last two years

Cedarville reports none since 2010.

The guidelines from the White House are right in step with local schools, including recruiting help from students to be proactive and asking for bystander intervention.

A presidential administration stepping in to take a leadership position about this subject matter was greeted wholeheartedly by all of the schools because of additional resources which gives a lot of weight to make programs stronger.